Our response to the idea of schools taking 2 year olds

This is a complex matter that is not about when children start school but about us really understanding the needs of the developing child and ensuring that we prioritise child flourishing and wellbeing over economic criteria and educational attainment. We know that the first three years of life are essential for the development of healthy physiology and brain architecture and that early environments fundamentally impact on children's learning dispositions.

Whether children are within childminding, nursery or school environments, what matters is that they are developmentally appropriate, that the adult/child rations are high, that the people caring for the children are highly trained and knowledgeable about child development and that the emphasis is on child wellbeing. We also need to look at how best to support parents as the most important thing for such young children is to have stable, loving and supportive home lives.

Schools are therefore frequently not the best place for the youngest children because they have not been designed with their needs in mind.

This is what one of our advisors, Sally Goddard Blythe, had to say in a letter to the Daily Telegraph:

SIR – Baroness Morgan, the chairman of Ofsted, has recommended that children from poorer families should start formal school at two to avoid falling behind. Her comments may be well-intentioned, but they do not address the root causes of under-achievement among a higher percentage of children from poorer backgrounds.

Research carried out on children’s neuro-motor skills in primary schools has shown that children with immature motor skills do not perform as well on educational measures at eight years of age. The developmental window for developing neuro-motor skills and language skills is in the first three and a half years of life.

Neuro-motor skills are developed in the context of free physical space, while language develops through social engagement, free play and imagination. The problem will not be solved by putting children into formal settings at ever younger ages.

The solution is to educate future parents better about the needs of the developing child. This should form part of the education of every teenager currently in the system.